Chapter 6 - I Took It As a Proposal
The fire had burned down to its bones.
Most of the team slept—curled under blankets, limbs slack with exhaustion. The forest was awake again: crickets chirped, frogs murmured in the creekbed, wind sighed through the high branches like it knew secrets.
The woods whispered behind the tents—too quiet, too still.
Tlacaelel slipped from his bedroll with a muttered curse and half a stretch, barefoot on the cool dirt. The fire had burned low, and most of the team was out cold—except Renata, who was nowhere in sight.
Figures.
He padded toward the trees, aiming for some privacy and muttering something unflattering about the amount of water he had drunk from his canteen and its consequences.
But as he reached the edge of the clearing, a sharp whisper cut th
